With this fifth in the long-running Die Hard action series, I think I can finally admit that I’ve seen enough of NYC detective John McClane and his family.  This time he (Bruce Willis) is in Moscow, trying to find his wayward adult son (Jai Courtney) and bring him back home.  First, however, McClane has to rescue him from Russian mobsters, interrupt a CIA rescue operation and take a side trip to Chernobyl, all the while decrying the fact that he is supposed to be on vacation.

The original 1988 Die Hard is the best action film of its type that I have ever seen, and which I chose as the best film of that year.  Its three sequels are all pretty good in action terms, although they become less believable and sillier as they progress. But this last one is just too much.  John Moore’s new installment ramps up the silly action scenes but largely fails to note the detail that made the first series entry so memorable.  The writing is pedestrian and the action scenes — especially the extensive highway chase — are shot in such a way that it is difficult to follow just what is happening at any one time (other than cars being crushed or knocked off the highway — where are all the Russian cops?).

It’s not all bad; plotting involving the CIA’s rescue target Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch) and his daughter Irina (Yiulia Snigir) is competently written.  And the stunts are unbelievable.  That is partly a compliment — “they are unbelievable!” — and partly not, as in they are literally unbelievable and unconvincing.  That’s the new standard in Hollywood; CGI effects allow filmmakers to do things they could never attempt before, and pushing the envelope of the possible often results in stuff that simply could never occur and doesn’t look reasonable, no matter how cool it is.

I’m also a little miffed that John McClane had to travel to Russia for this adventure, and that his adult son is now played by an Australian (by an actor who played the sniper in Jack Reacher!).  John McClane is a uniquely American protagonist whose cinematic jurisdiction has been various cities and suburbs of America.  He doesn’t need to go gallivanting around the world like James Bond — it was the advent of the original entry and action studs like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme that supplanted the Bond cycle for six years following 1989’s Licence to Kill — let’s keep him on American soil protecting the red, white and blue from terrorists, both domestic and foreign.  That’s where he is needed.  If, indeed, he is now needed at all.

Each of the earlier Die Hards has elements to recommend, whether it be wonderful villains, great stunts, funny dialogue, wild action sequences or just the sight of bald Bruce Willis being tougher than everybody else.  But this one is by the numbers, using all single digits.  There is nothing remarkable or even memorable about it; with this adventure John McClane has joined the ranks of ordinary action heroes.  That is a shame, for he used to be the best.  ☆ ☆.  23 February 2013.